The present invention relates to a composition for skin regeneration including chamomile hydrosol prepared by vacuum distillation as an active ingredient, and, more particularly, to a composition for skin regeneration including camphor ((1R)-1,7,7-Trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one) or chamomile hydrosol containing the camphor as an active ingredient, a cosmetic composition for skin regeneration and a food composition including camphor or chamomile hydrosol containing the camphor as an active ingredient, and a pharmaceutical composition for skin regeneration including camphor, pharmaceutically available salts thereof or chamomile hydrosol containing the camphor as an active ingredient.
Chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) belongs to the family Compositae, and is widely used as herbal tea. From the old times, chamomile has been used to remove intestinal gases and relieve symptoms such as headache, insomnia, backache, neurodynia, rheumatism, skin diseases, dyspepsia, and gout. Among various kinds of chamomile, German chamomile has been widely used, and scientifically further evaluated. German chamomile contains bisabolol having low toxicity and sensitivity for the skin care. On the other hand, Roman chamomile, Anobillis and Moroccan chamomile do not contain bisabolol. In current studies, it was found that a chamomile essential oil has high antibacterial and antioxidant efficacies. The chamomile essential oil contains various phytochemicals including flavonoids, and some of the phytochemicals exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic activities. The chamomile essential oil has been studied in various fields including pharmacy, perfume, cosmetics and food industries. However the activities of chamomile hydrosol have not been reported. In this study, therefore, we tried to demonstrate that chamomile hydrosol has a high effect in treating the skin like the essential oil.
Meanwhile, the key signaling pathways which regulate cell proliferation in various cells are PI3K and MEK/ERK pathways. The most distinguishing effect of PI3K is an increase in phosphorylated AKT. Activated AKT inhibits TSC1/TSC2 activities, and activates mTOR by phosphorylating Raptor. The activation of mTOR induces the S6K1 activities and phosphorylates 4E-BP1. Then, the phosphorylated 4E-BP1 is separated from eIF4E to become active, and enhances the cap-dependent translation of mRNA (Liwei Rong, et al., RNA, 14(7): 1318-27, 2008). Another important pathway is the activation of a Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cascade. Activated ERK can directly phosphorylate various transcription factors such as Ets, Elk, and Myc (M C Mendoza, et al., Mol Cell. 18; 41(6): 661-671, 2011).
An important indicator for proliferation of cells is an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). Generation of ROS appears not only in lesions but also in the cell proliferation in response to various kinds of stimuli. The vital role of ROS in normal physiological signaling is found in elevating transcription factors such as NF-κB, MAP kinases, and PI3K/AKT. It is known that ROS participate as a secondary messenger in the mitogenic signaling for cell proliferation, and increase tyrosine phosphorylations of tyrosine kinase receptors (TKRs), thus inducing the activation of downstream signaling cascades such as AKT, ERK, JNK, and like. Also, it is known that ROS could activate PI3K/AKT and ERK in culture cells such as fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and the like. However, ROS production is rather well known for causing damage to cells. Cells exposed to different concentrations of H2O2 can rapidly transform to harmful ROS, hence inducing the cell death (Masuko Ushio-Fukai, et al., The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1996 (274), 22699-22704). The dual function of ROS was not well described yet, but different concentrations of ROS may show different effects on different targets within specific types of cells.
Fibroblasts are spindle-shaped cells, and are derived from multipotential mesenchymal cells, which are involved in the formation of fibers responsible for dermal architecture and elasticity. The fibroblasts play major roles in determining skin properties such as water retention and biomechanical properties by regulating extracellular matrix (ECM) components including collagens, elastin, and glycoproteins. The skin elasticity is influenced by the quality and quantity of elastin and collagen fibrils, which are degraded by an enzyme elastase. The increased enzymatic activities of elastase triggers various diseases, delays wound healing, and induces wrinkle formation. Also, the elastase plays an important role in controlling an inflammatory process. Therefore, developing elastase inhibitors is a novel anti-ageing strategy. Another biomarker for cellular senescence or ageing is the senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, which is highly expressed and accumulated in lysosomes in senescent cells (Maier A B, et al., Ann NY Acad Sci. 2007 April; 1100: 323-32). β-Galactosidase catalyzes the hygrolysis into monosaccharides. The presence or absence of β-galactosidase activity is detected by X-gal, which produces a characteristic blue dye when cleaved by β-galactosidase.
Meanwhile, Korean Patent No. 1175803 discloses a ‘cosmetic composition for skin cell regeneration and skin wrinkles attenuation,’ and Korean Patent No. 0858629 discloses a ‘cosmetic composition for increasing the skin energy comprising Chamaecyparis obtusa, Pinus thunbergii and Pinus bungeana extracts as active ingredients.’ As disclosed in the present invention, however, the patent does not disclose a composition for skin regeneration comprising camphor or chamomile hydrosol prepared by vacuum distillation as an active ingredient. In the present invention, we tried to find that chamomile hydrosol extracted by vacuum distillation and camphor that is a main component of the chamomile hydrosol exhibit cell regeneration activities by activating the PI3K/AKT and ERK signaling pathways as the cells are treat with the chamomile hydrosol and camphor, and thus enhancing the cell viability.
Also, we tried to find that camphor enhances skin elasticity and protects dermal fibroblast from cellular senescence by attenuating the activities of elastase and β-galactosidase and enhancing a total expression level of collagens. Accordingly, in the present invention, we tried to confirm that the chamomile hydrosol extracted by vacuum distillation and camphor that is a main component of the chamomile hydrosol have anti-ageing activities, and are able to be used for a cosmetic composition for treating skin damage and improving the skin condition.